Monday, 25 April 2016

This is an incomplete playblast of my pre-viz. This was to test the signs, render quality and movement of the objects and signs within the piece.

All of the pieces shown have had their UVs created and basic textures applied. I applied a slightly different top layer to the 'warden tower' which gives it more of a 'painted on cardboard' effect. I think for the final animation, I will apply this texture top layer to all of the pieces to give it more of a realistic look.

Sunday, 24 April 2016

These are some renders of my early pre-viz. The UVs have been corrected on the cardboard and many of the pieces have had textures especially made for them. These were made to test the lighting and how the components should look when layered correctly.

When people think of King Kong, they are more prone to remembering the 2005 remake with the likes of Jack Black and Naomi Watts in rather than the original 1933 film by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack. Having seen both versions, it's hard not to compare them to one another, due to the way that the remake mirrors the original in so many ways.

Fig 1 - movie poster

Another weak point to the movie that audiences sigh at, is being resigned to seeing another 'heroine' only being portrayed on screen as the maiden in distress who seems to have no regard for her safety, not attempting to escape even after the giant ape lays her gently on the ground several times. We are so used to seeing these leading ladies fight for themselves in todays world but once again, this is just a trait from the era of the film's origin.

The effects for the time are extronadinary. The capability to produce a film were a giant ape (not forgetting the giant dinosaur) in 1933 would have left audiences gobsmacked at what they were seeing on screen. The time and effort put into these scenes alone are astounding. Mixing live action and stop motion animation was a hit and created some of the most iconic scenes from the film.

It soon develops that the savages, who offer up sacrifices in the form of human beings to Kong, their super-king, keep him in an area surrounded by a great wall. Kong has miles in which to roam and fight with brontosauri and dinosauri and other huge creatures. (Mordant Hall - 1933)

Fig 2 - King Kong trying to get rid of the men following him

In the original version it is impossible in today's world to not see the racial undertones which, unfortunately, were very normal for the time that it was created. You will see a lot of reviews talking about this controversial take on the ethic minorities and their portrayals in this film, whereas this is just a more publicised film from the era which highlights what was the norm of the times.

Modern viewers will shift uneasily in their seats during the stereotyping of the islanders in a scene where a bride is to be sacrificed to Kong... (Rodger Ebert - 2002)

Fig 3 - King kong at the gates

Reviews from this era are also prone to racial slurs and derogatory terms such as savages but the audience at the Time would have accepted these without the blink of an eye. Of course, the audience of today cannot avoid these facts before making a decision on the obvious racial discomfort it would cause if it was released a mere 70years later in 2003. The tribes men that we see before us on screen, appear to be based upon the slavery of the 'african american' individuals, whom only 60years earlier were released from slavery. Is this a play on the underlying tones of the time in America?

The movie plunders every trick in the book to create its illusions, using live action, back projection, stop-motion animation, miniatures, models, matte paintings and sleight-of-hand. (Rodger Ebert - 2002)

Overall, King Kong was a ground breaking film and helped pave the way for many more of our 'classic' films and helped to inspire so many film makers and animators. It is just unfortunate that we are subject to an endless repetition of racial references, bigotry, an acting style that would now be left to theatre performers and censored scenes left on the cutting room floor. At the end of the day we still see it is a classic movie and a piece worthy of greatness but a sad reflection of our history.

Wednesday, 20 April 2016

This is my playblast/render test for the opening sequence. This is the introduction for "My Science Project". My set now features a 'cardboard curtain' to hide some of the pieces out of view and helps to draw the audience in further, The sign will say "how the body fights infection" although I'm not sure if the chain that is featured on it fits with the cardboard childish aspect and I'm wondering if this should be string instead.

Sunday, 17 April 2016

I'm currently trying to plyablast my pre-viz but the settings I'm used to on the uni computers aren't there. Is this because I'm using a iMac and not a windows computer? If so, what are the settings that I could use to playlist? Many thanks :)

Wednesday, 13 April 2016

These are the start of my Art of Pages. I'm trying to create it in the style of a scrap book and found that its hard o create this digitally so I've started making some of the backgrounds by hand and scanning them in.

I think I need to place the images at wonky angles and add 'tape' everywhere to push this further.

Monday, 11 April 2016

After making my pre-viz model of the box, I've began to wonder if I made the 'stage' area too small. So I've created 2 wider versions to see what not only looks better but what would give my animation more space to take place.

I prefer 2 the most as it's not too wide and is probably the closest in size to my real life version, meaning these proportions are more believable. 3 is also a good size and has a lot more space for animating in but I feel it may be too wide.

Thursday, 7 April 2016

15-20 minute study. I focused on proportion and picking out the darkest and lightest parts of the figure.

10 x 5minute studies. Working with composition and drawing in a combination of ink pens and chalks. Mainly focusing on proportions and shading the light and dark areas of the figure once more. Chalks were a lot harder to control I think the proportions for these weren't as strong as those drawing in pencil and ink.

Quick facial study. This worked well as the pencil sketch but when adding the ink to it, I appear to have drawn Mr Spock instead.

Monday, 4 April 2016

My chosen quote for the lip-sync animation is "No, no! Don't do that. If you shoot him you'll just make him mad."

This is the basic character movement for the animation. This is before the facial features are added and the movements cleaned up. For me, stage 1 (the outlines) was more of a movement test of animating two separate characters at once. I think at this stage I've done pretty well to get the movements clear although the character on the left doesn't seem to have such a clear movement as the character on the right.